Strawberry Ice Cream
by Ita-ta
Summary: There were certainly some oddities in Konoha. Pairings: ShikaSakuNeji, SasuNaru.


**This is the first in a series of stories that were created from my previous fic, "Twenty Men." The theme number can be explained once you read it. I am proud to dedicate "Project: Twenty Men" to **_**Aloha.Laney. **_**She's a dear friend.**

Title: Strawberry Ice Cream  
Author: Ita-ta  
Pairings: SasuNaru, ShikaSakuNeji  
Theme: #20  
Rating: T for teenagers.  
Disclaimer: All Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.  
Summary:There were certainly some oddities in Konoha.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Naruto had made _salad _come up his nose when he first saw the three of them together in an ice cream shop. He had started to cough loudly when the three of them exited, the two males holding each side of her waist protectively. After a few weeks, he got used to it.

He had been with his dark-haired lover when he had been eying them suspiciously. "What's wrong, Sasuke?" He asked, his eyes showing concern.

"There's something odd about them," His brows were furrowed. Even though they were together, Sasuke and Naruto still were overprotective of their female companion.

"What?" Naruto asked, raising his eyebrow. He looked to the group in the ice cream shop across the street. She was grinning at the pineapple head, the genius frowning at her and his other companion, that let a bit of amusement slip into his lavender eyes.

"They seem eerily familiar with each other," Sasuke said, a contemplative look settling onto his features.

Naruto grinned and kissed his cheek. He loved how sometimes Sasuke could be so oblivious to the outside world when he was enveloped in training. "No silly, they're _together_." The blonde emphasized the last word but his lover didn't seem to grasp the concept.

"You mean Nara and her?" He asked, dubiously. "Since when?"

"No," Naruto declined flatly and Sasuke teared his gaze away from the three to look at Naruto with confused eyes.

"The Hyuuga?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

Naruto leaned forward to capture his lips in a tongue-satisfying kiss. It was one of the rare times Sasuke was caught off-guard and Naruto took full advantage in it to dominate him for once. He pulled away with a foxy grin. "No silly," He declined once more.

"Huh?" Sasuke asked, a bit dazed.

"They're together, _all of them_." Naruto stated.

At this Sasuke's eyes widened in understanding. He turned just in time to see Sakura kiss Neji and lick a bit of stawberry ice cream off Shikamaru's nose. Sasuke's eyes widened and his pale face got paler. "This has to be more scandalous than when we got together." He muttered.

"Ah, that is a lovely memory," Naruto grinned like a Cheshire cat when he noticed the Uchiha's face brighten pink. He captured Sasuke's lips once more.

Sasuke pulled back again though. "We should pay the Nara and Hyuuga a visit tomorrow." He said, a hint of mischief hiding in his onyx eyes.

Naruto picked up on it quickly. He smiled softly and kissed him on the cheek. "That sounds like a great idea, teme." He added the endearing nickname.

"I always have good ideas, dobe," Sasuke grinned and this time it was he who engaged in kissing.

Over at the ice cream shop Sakura was content. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to leave you two; I have to get back to the hospital." She looked at Shikamaru and Neji with sad eyes.

"Are you sure you can't stay longer?" Neji asked in his usual calm voice.

"I'm positive. No amount of meddling will move me. I missed enough work last week when I was sick." She answered, eying the two with mild suspicion.

"We wouldn't do anything, would we Neji?" The laze genius drawled, his tone full of innocence.

"Of course not Shika," Neji agreed, matching his lover's innocent drawl immaculately.

"I don't believe you," Sakura narrowed her eyes irritably.

"That hurts." Shikamaru pulled his face into a soft pout.

"You don't believe these two handsome faces?" Neji asked, his lower lip jutting out slightly, his eyes darkening slightly. "Well then Shika let's ignore her and hope she goes away to think about how she hurt us."

"Agreed Neji," They huddled together in each other's arms and refused to look at her.

Sakura just let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, I believe you," She smiled and kissed each of them on the cheek. "I really have to go now, be good." She gave them a warning look before exiting the ice cream shop.

"I want to spend the rest of the day with her," Neji said, turning to Shikamaru and kissing his cheek.

"I concur, shall we go persuade Tsunade to let her hardworking, workaholic, head medic off for the day?" Shikamaru asked, returning Neji's affection.

"Indeed," The Hyuuga grinned, as did the Nara. They both set off after Sakura, prowling after her like predatory dogs. They didn't miss some of the looks men gave her and they both grew irritated. Stopping they watched as she turned the corner, blissfully unaware ther her two lovers were following her. They were both geniuses after all.

"Shall we send these disgusting gnats a warning as to whether they can look at our princess with such eyes?" Neji asked Shikamaru calmly, eying a clerk.

"We shall," And they both turned the corner, leaving a few over-turned carts with things tumbling to the ground in a mess. Satisfied grins were on their faces as they continued to follow their cherry blossom.

Sakura had made it into the hospital and after spending an hour in the pediatric ward, she headed back to her office. Opening a case file she read it over and exited her office, case file in hand. She navigated easily through the crowd but let out a surprised squeak as she found herself latched onto a pair of lips, another pair trailed butterfly kisses on her neck and a nose nuzzling her neck.

She immediately started to pulled back but realized she was stuck, when she moved back she leaned into a hard chest. She was still being kissed, a tongue forcing its way into her mouth and sweeping over the inside. The faint taste of stawberry ice cream made her realize who it was. Her eyes snapped open as she realized they had shut and she looked into lavender eyes.

Neji pulled back a satisfied smirk on his face. Sakura realized the butterfly kisses had stopped on her neck but knew that Shikamaru was still behind her. "What the hell do you two _think you're doing?!_" She hissed irritably. She anger immediately subsided as a tongue touched the shell of her ear. It was then that she realized it was Shikamaru in front of her now.

"What do you think?" Shikamaru grinned and captured her mouth with his. Her eyes were wide but then fluttered shut as she felt him gently prying her mouth open and Neji's tongue sliding over her jaw line.

Sakura fell backwards into Neji's arms and Shikamaru pulled back. Sakura felt herself being lifted into the air. "Hey! Stop—" She started, her voice breathy, but realized that the two of them weren't going to. "Where are you taking me?" She asked wearily.

"Home, you're exhausted." She felt the rumble of Neji's voice through his chest. It was lulling her to sleep.

"Let me go, I'm not tired," She wasn't about to give in yet.

"You can't lie to us, you didn't sleep all last night and it kept us up." Shikamaru drawled out.

"I don't even have permission—" Sakura started but was interrupted by Neji.

"The Hokage says otherwise." He stated.

"You two are sometimes so irritating," She started off in a lecturing voice.

"Isn't that why she chose us in our good qualities?" Shikamaru asked Neji with just the right amount of curiosity.

Neji's chested rumbled in agreement. "I do recall that fateful night we came together," He stated, and he heard Shikamaru chuckle and he knew Sakura's face had reddened considerably.

"I say we get a tub of strawberry ice cream head home and eat some in bed." Shikamaru suggested.

"I agree, that would be nice," Neji smiled and they exited the hospital, navigating their way back to the ice cream shop.

"I don't get a choice in this, do I?" Sakura asked, exasperated. She was met with silence. "Great," She frowned.

The three had retrieved the ice cream and Shikamaru was carrying Sakura while Neji carried the ice cream. They were all fair to each other. They travelled back to their quaint little apartment. Neji pulled open the door and allowed Shikamaru carry Sakura over the threshold.

"Bring the spoons?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hn," Neji disappeared into the kitchen and Shikamaru carried Sakura into the bedroom leaving the door open for the Hyuuga.

Shikamaru placed her gently onto the bed and he flopped down on it, himself. Neji arrived and placed the ice cream and three spoons neatly on the night table. He settled himself on the other side of Sakura.

"I think I'll go to sleep now..." Sakura rolled over, her cheeks reddening.

"Tsk."

"Tsk."

Neji said the first, Shikamaru said the second and they timed it perfectly. "Not getting away that easy." They stated in unison. They both had the satisfaction of undressing her and then dressing her up in an article of their clothing. She wore a pair of Neji's boxers, brown in colour and a green t-shirt of Shikamaru's. They would serve as her pyjamas.

They each stripped down to their boxers as they felt they would be sleeping after ice cream.

"Let's eat?" Shikamaru suggested.

"Sure," Neji languidly reached for the ice cream and gave them each a spoon.

Then, the boys looked at Sakura. She rolled her eyes and opened the container. They all started eating the lovely substance, exchanging kisses and getting into more than one debate. Something that drew them together was that all three of them were the most intelligent people of their generation.

An hour later they all were entangled in each other under the blankets, sound asleep. An empty ice cream container and three spoons lay on the beside table.

Shikamaru had his nose buried in the crook of the left side of her neck while Neji had the right. They each had an arm encircled around her and their legs were tangled in each other. Sakura's right hand was buried in Neji's hair while her left was placed on Shikamaru's hard stomach.

They each had smiles on their faces.

The next morning Sakura awoke to rapid succession of knocking on the door of their apartment. She carefully disentangled herself from her boys and stumbled out of the door and into the living room where at the other end was the door. She opened the door, with a yawn.

"Sakura!" Naruto burst out.

"You finally answered the door," Sasuke inspected her features. Immediately he noticed the clothes she wore weren't hers. Her hair was in disarray and it was obvious she just woke up.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"One in the afternoon," Naruto answered.

"Why do you look more rumpled than usual this morning, Sakura?" Sasuke asked her suspiciously.

"Why so curious, Uchiha?" An arrogant voice entered into the conversation. Sakura squeaked when a possessive arm linked around her waist.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Just a little worried for her well-being," He answered easily, his eyes darkening with protectiveness.

Naruto, sensing his lover's distress, grabbed Sasuke's hand in order to calm him.

"Why are you at her house?" Naruto asked, a frown on his tanned face.

"Take a wild guess," A drawl entered the coversation, unmistakeably belonging to Shikamaru. His head rested comfortably on Sakura's shoulder and Sakura realized how intimately he and Neji were holding onto her.

They were both wearing pants but were shirtless. Naruto frowned at this sudden revelation.

"You spent the night—" He started accusingly.

"What if we did?" Neji asked coolly.

Sasuke stopped Naruto from saying anything rash. "We were hoping to get in some training with you two, Nara, Hyuuga." He answered icily, glaring at the two.

"I'm sorry," Shikamaru started but didn't seem sorry at all. "We have to refuse," He stated.

"We have plans." Neji stated.

At this, Sakura reddened as both men were nuzzling her neck possessively.

"Uhm w-we h-h-have to g-go! Thanks f-f-for stopping by!" She squeaked stammeringly. The door was slammed into the two men's faces.

"Well, at least we know they can protect her." Naruto grinned.

"They also make her happy." Sasuke let a faint smile settle on his face.

"That's all we want, right?" Naruto asked, nuzzling his nose into Sasuke's neck.

"Yes," He purred and returned Naruto's affections.

There were certainly a few oddities about Konoha, indeed.


End file.
